Splint stretcher

ABSTRACT

The framework of a splint stretcher having upper and lower side members is hinged along its length to provide a body portion together with a leg and foot portion that may be pivoted upward at an angle to be raised relative to the body portion. Means is provided to secure the leg and foot portion in the elevated angular position relative to the body portion. Pivotal support means for the foot end of the stretcher may also be provided to extend downwardly at an adjustable angle from the foot end of the stretcher to engage a supporting plane surface and thereby support the foot end of the stretcher at a desired position above the plane of a stretcher supporting surface.

Staubs June 24, 1975 1 SPLINT STRETCHER Samuel M. Staubs, 1204 Duncan St., Key West, Fla. 33040 [22] Filed: June 24, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 482,147

[76]" Inventor:

2,519,729 8/1950 Alexander.... 5/68 3,574,871 4/1971 Greene 5/82 3,789,437 2/1974 Garte 5/62 Primary Examiner-Casmir A. Nunberg Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Dos T. Hatfield [5 7] ABSTRACT The framework of a splint stretcher having upper and lower side members is hinged along its length to provide a body portion together with a leg and foot portion that may be pivoted upward at an angle to be raised relative to the body portion. Means is provided to secure the leg and foot portion in the elevated angular position relative to the body portion. Pivotal support means for the foot end of the stretcher may also be provided to extend downwardly at an adjustable angle from the foot end of the stretcher to engage a supporting plane surface and thereby support the foot end of the stretcher at a desired position above the plane of a stretcher supporting surface.

2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures ivvvv SHEET PATENTEI] JUN 24 I975 000000 00 0... O 000. Q ooo o o ouo SPLINT STRETCHER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Splint stretchers for emergency use are well known and generally comprise an open framework of spaced upper and lower longitudinal side members with cross members and straps or meshwork forming a bed for the patient in a manner such that the patient may be enclosed within the side frame members and strapped to the stretcher. Since these stretchers are for emergency use they are light weight and sometimes are collapsible for easy storage.

It is well known that patients in shock are best treated by supporting their legs in elevated position or by supporting the entire body of the patient in inclined position with the feet elevated.

PRIOR ART None of the prior splint stretcher frames with which applicant is familiar is arranged to provide an adjustable elevated stretcher leg and foot portion or an adjustable support for the stretcher in inclined position with the foot of the stretcher elevated above the plane of a supporting surface. US. Pat. No. 820,026 discloses a typical open framework splint stretcher not having the adjustable features of the present invention, and US. Pat. No. 1,557,647 discloses a collapsible splint stretcher that may be adjustable in length but does not provide an adjustable foot portion or an adjustable support for inclining the stretcher by supporting the foot end of the stretcher in an elevated position as provided by the present invention.

Adjustable cots and stretchers that are not of the splint stretcher type are disclosed by the following listed patents, but it should be noted that the particular adjusting arrangements disclosed by the patents are not suitable for use with a splint stretcher type of framework having upper and lower longitudinal side members, as provided by the present invention:

US. Pat. Nos. 1,231,220; 2,392,850; 2,394,245; 2,400,155.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the invention, a splint stretcher having a framework including upper and lower longitudinally extending side members on each side is provided with a body portion and a hinged leg and foot portion by hinging the lower side members at a frame pivot point along their length and interrupting the upper side members at the frame pivot point. In the preferred arrangement, the respective upper side members of the stretcher body portion at the point of interruption are extended downward at an angle of about 90 degrees to be connected to the respective lower side members of the body portion at the frame pivot point, while the respective upper side members of the leg and foot portion of the stretcher are extended downward at an angle greater than 90 to be connected to the respective lower side members of the leg portion at the frame pivot point. In order to secure the leg portion at an angle to the body portion for elevating the legs of the patient, an adjusting brace is secured to extend in alignment with the longitudinal axis of one of the upper side members of at least one side of the stretcher at the point of interruption towards the other upper side member at that point, and a plurality of pin receiving apertures are provided to be spaced along the adjusting bar and the other side member so that a locking pin may be inserted in aligned ones of the bar and upper member apertures when the leg portion of the stretcher is in the desired angular position relative to the body portion of the stretcher either in alignment therewith or angled upwards.

A further feature of the invention is the provision of a respective pivotal support member to be secured to the frame at points spaced above the respective leg and foot portion lower side members of the stretcher frame to be pivoted and secured to extend downward at an adjustable angle to engage the plane of a supporting surface and support the foot end of the stretcher at an adjustable height above the plane of the supporting surface. In order to provide for securing the support at adjustable angles, a plurality of pin receiving apertures are spaced along each support member from the support pivot point and similar pin receiving apertures are spaced along the respective lower side member from the support pivot point towards the frame pivot point, such that a locking pin may be received in aligned ones of the support and lower side member apertures with the support in a desired angular position extending downward from-the lower side member.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top plan view;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary detail of the hinge and brace at the frame pivot point; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the leg and foot portion of the stretcher secured in a raised position with a support member secured in downward angled position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the splint stretcher is comprised of a body portion generally shown at 10 and a leg and foot portion generally shown at 11. A lower longitudinal side member on one side is comprised of a body section lower member 12a hinged at frame pivot point by hinge 13 to the leg and foot section lower member 12b. Similarly, the other lower side member is comprised of body section 14a and leg and foot section 14b. One of the upper side members is comprised of body section 15a and leg and foot section 15b and the other upper side member is comprised of body section 16a and leg and foot section 16b. The upper and lower longitudinally extending side members are secured in spaced apart relation by suitable means such as cross members 17-23, formed as shown. Additional longitudinal support members, such as shown at 24a, 24b, 25a, 25b and 26 may be provided as shown for the bottom frame of the stretcher to support body straps, such as shown at 30, and mesh 31 if desired.

It will be noted that the upper side member body sections 15a and 16a are interrupted from the upper side leg section members 15b and 16b in the vicinity of the frame pivot hinge 13. In the preferred form of the invention each upper side body section member 15a, 16a, is extended downward, such as shown at 15c, at an angle of about at points 35, 36, respectively, to join the respective lower foot side sections 12b, 14b and the cross member 21. Thus the foot section 11 of the stretcher frame may be pivoted upwards at the hinge 13 to the position shown by the dash lines of FIG. 3, or the position shown by FIG. 4.

Referring now more particularly to FIGS. 1, 3 and 4 of the drawings, means for securing an adjusted position of the leg and foot portion of the stretcher will be described. Respective adjusting braces 40, 41 are secured to extend in alignment with the axes of the respective upper side leg section members 15b, 16b towards the respective upper body section members 15a, 16a from the respective interruption angle points 36, 37. Each brace 40, 41 is provided with a plurality of pin receiving apertures 40a40d and 41a41d. The upper body section member 15a is provided with a single pin receiving aperture le while the upper body section member 16a is provided with a single pin receiving aperture 162. When the leg portion of the stretcher is aligned with the body portion of the stretcher, as shown by FIGS. 1-3 of the drawings, locking pins 50, 51 can be inserted in the respective aligned apertures 40d, l5e and 41d, l6e to secure the position. When the leg portion of the stretcher is in the inclined upward position, as shown by FIG. 4, the locking pins 50, 51 are inserted in the respective aligned apertures 40a, I52 and 41a, l6e to secure the position. Similarly, different angle positions are secured when the locking pins 50, 51 are inserted in aligned apertures 40b, l5e or 400, l5e for side members a, 15b or aligned apertures 41b, 162 or 41c, 16e for side members 16a, 16b. Although a respective adjusting brace 40, 41 for each side of the stretcher has been disclosed, an obvious modification of the invention would be to provide a single adjusting brace on one side only of the stretcher.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 4 of the drawings, a respective pivotal support member 60, 61 is pivotally secured at 62, 63 to the leg and foot section 11 of the stretcher frame to be pivoted down at an angle to the stretcher frame section 11 and engage a stretcher supporting plane surface, as shown most clearly by FIG. 4, in a manner to support the foot end of the stretcher above the plane of the supporting surface. Each pivotal support member 60, 61 is provided with respective pin receiving apertures 60a, 60b, 60c and 61a, 61b, 61c, longitudinally spaced from the respective pivot points 62, 63 as shown. Similarly, each lower side member 12b, 14b is provided with a plurality of longitudinally spaced apart pin receiving apertures, such as shown at 12d, l2e and 12ffor member 12b. When a locking pin (not shown) is inserted in aligned apertures 60a and 12d, the supporting leg 60 will be secured in the position shown by FIG. 4 to support the foot end of the stretcher at the angle X. If a locking pin is inserted through aligned apertures 60b, l2e, then the support 60 will be secured in a position to support the foot end of the stretcher at the angle Y and if the locking pin is inserted in aligned apertures 60c, 12f, the angle will be as shown at Z. The locking arrangements for support member 61 are the same as described above for support 60 and need not be further described. Of course, the adjustable foot supports 60, 61 may be used even when the body section 10 and the leg and foot sections are secured in alignment as shown by FIGS. 1 and 2, in which case the entire stretcher can be supported in inclined position with different angles of inclination as determined by the respective alignments oflocking pin apertures. It will be noted that the pivot points 62, 63 must be on a frame member at a location spaced above the lower side section members 12b, 14b, and may be joined to the cross member 23, as shown, or the upper side frame section members 15b, 16b as will be obvious to one skilled in the art.

Although the adjusting braces 40, 41 have been shown to be secured to extend in alignment with upper side member sections 15b, 16b, the arrangement could be reversed with the braces extending in alignment with upper side member section 15a, 16a, in which case the arrangement of the locking pin apertures would also be reversed.

The description of the invention in the foregoing specification and the terminology of the appended claims has described the lower side frame members as being hinged to each other at a pivot point intermediate their lengths. It should be understood that such terminology and description is intended to be generic and specifically includes the arrangement in which respective cross members are secured to the lower side frame members and the hinge connection is between the adjacent cross members, substantially as shown by FIG. 1 of the drawings.

Various modifications will occur to those skilled in the art.

What is claimed is:

l. A splint stretcher having a framework including a pair of spaced apart upper and lower longitudinally extending side members on each side thereof, the lower ones of said side members being hinged for pivotal up and down movement at a frame pivot point intermedi ate their length, cross members extending between the lower side members on each side of the frame pivot point to form a stretcher bed frame with a body position and a hinged leg and foot portion, each of the upper side members being interrupted at a point intermediate their length in the vicinity of said frame pivot point to form first and second upper side member sections, the interrupted upper side member of the upper body stretcher portion being extended downward at an angle of about to be secured to the corresponding lower side member at the body portion side of the frame pivot point, the interrupted upper side member of the leg and foot stretcher portion being extended downward at an angle greater than 90 to be secured to the corresponding lower side member at the leg and foot portion side of the frame pivot point, one of the upper side member sections on at least one side of the stretcher having a pin receiving aperture in the side member adjacent the point of interruption, the corresponding other one of said side member sections on at least one side of the stretcher having an adjusting brace secured to extend towards the one side member section in alignment with the longitudinal axis of the other side member, and each brace having a plurality of pin receiving apertures spaced along its length whereby the leg and foot portion of the stretcher may be secured in desired ones of different positions relative to the body portion with a respective pin extending through aligned apertures of the respective upper side frame section and adjusting brace.

2. The stretcher of claim 1 in which a respective support member is pivotally secured to the leg and foot portion of the stretcher at a point above the lower side members of the leg and foot section, each support member having a plurality of longitudinally spaced pin receiving apertures along its length from its pivot point, and the respective lower side members of the leg and aligned apertures of the respective support and lower side member to support the foot end of the stretcher at a desired position above the plane of a stretcher supporting surface. 

1. A splint stretcher having a framework including a pair of spaced apart upper and lower longitudinally extending side members on each side thereof, the lower ones of said side members being hinged for pivotal up and down movement at a frame pivot point intermediate their length, cross members extending between the lower side members on each side of the frame pivot point to form a stretcher bed frame with a body position and a hinged leg and foot portion, each of the upper side members being interrupted at a point intermediate their length in the vicinity of said frame pivot point to form first and second upper side member sections, the interrupted upper side member of the upper body stretcher portion being extended downward at an angle of about 90* to be secured to the corresponding lower side member at the body portion side of the frame pivot point, the interrupted upper side member of the leg and foot stretcher portion being extended downward at an angle greater than 90* to be secured to the corresponding lower side member at the leg and foot portion side of the frame pivot point, one of the upper side member sections on at least one side of the stretcher having a pin receiving aperture in the side member adjacent the point of interruption, the corresponding other one of said side member sections on at least one side of the stretcher having an adjusting brace secured to extend towards the one side member section in alignment with the longitudinal axis of the other side member, and each brace having a plurality of pin receiving apertures spaced along its length whereby the leg and foot portion of the stretcher may be secured in desired ones of different positions relative to the body portion with a respective pin extending through aligned apertures of the respective upper side frame section and adjusting brace.
 2. The stretcher of claim 1 in which a respective support member is pivotally secured to the leg and foot portion of the stretcher at a point above the lower side members of the leg and foot section, each support member having a plurality of longitudinally spaced pin receiving apertures along its length from its pivot point, and the respective lower side members of the leg and foot portion of the stretcher having a plurality of longitudinally spaced pin receiving apertures from the pivot point of the support member, whereby the respective support member may be secured in a desired angular position with a respective pin extending through aligned apertures of the respective support and lower side member to support the foot end of the stretcher at a desired position above the plane of a stretcher supporting surface. 